Aichi Sendou
Aichi Sendou is the main protagonist of Cardfight!! Vanguard. He is a somewhat shy and timid young man who wishes to be a Vanguard Fighter, but has never had the chance to have a real battle until his second encounter with Toshiki Kai. His first defeat was against Misaki Tokura. Name According to KeroKero Ace September 2011, Aichi's surname is written with the kanji for vanguard (先導), the forward element in a military formation (and, of course, a reference to the title of the franchise). His forename primarily refers to the Aichi prefecture of Chubu, Japan. This follows a general trend in Vanguard of using historical names for characters. "Aichi" as a name originates from the third volume of the Man'yōshū, Japan's oldest collection of poetry, where it was referred to as Ayuchi, the Ayuchi-gata tidal flats. History Not much information about Aichi's past has been revealed in the series so far, except that he met Toshiki Kai when he was younger and at that time he was always bullied by others. During the fateful encounter with Kai, who was still a friendly teenager, he gave him the card Blaster Blade, telling him to imagine himself big and strong, like the royal knight depicted on the card. Aichi couldn't picture himself any stronger at that moment, but the card gave him courage. He constructed a deck in the hopes of finding Kai and having a duel with him, but shortly after their encounter, Kai had apparently moved away. Aichi also lacks a father figure, for whatever reason, but lives with his mother and little sister, Emi. It is shown that Aichi isn't interested in school and his sister always woke him up, though this behavior disappears after he starts playing Cardfight!! Vanguard. Biography Aichi is a student in Hitsue Middle School. He is introduced as a self-contained boy with low self-esteem, as seen when he is asked by his teacher to base an opinion, to which he gives an answer that makes him seem cowardly in appearance to the other students. He eventually gains other friends. Personality At first, he is a shy, taciturn and timid boy who doesn't stand out. He is always kind and nice to everyone. Later in the series, he appears to be more confident in himself and it resulted a boost on his Cardfight skills. power.]] After the Training Summer Camp, Aichi gains PSY Qualia, which manifests as him having a vision of that fight's result while his eyes glow. Like Ren, using this power normally gives Aichi strong headaches, and occasional fainting. Kai became worried that Aichi might be consumed by this power like Ren did. Aichi's power soon overcomes him as Kai predicted, and starts to turn like Ren Suzugamori. Ultra Rare identified this power as "PSY Qualia". Ren gave him a Shadow Paladin deck, which appears to fuel his PSY Qualia, and changed the color of the lights during his Rides and Calls from blue to dark blue combined with black. Deck At the beginning of the series, Aichi is revealed to possess a Royal Paladin deck, based mostly on human knights and their dog companions. It is revealed that this deck is not quite strong, as it lacks Grade 3 Units, and it is rather all over the place. Aichi comes to rely on a combination of Blaster Blade and Wingal to pull through his first few fights, but Tokura Misaki stops his winning streak. Aichi manages to upgrade his deck with the introduction of the Grade 3 Unit, Solitary Knight Gancelot, which he tries to use unsuccessfully to defeat Katsuragi Kamui and Kourin. Finally, he receives King Of Knights, Alfred from Suiko, which, especially when combined with Barkgal, becomes his major ace for a large part of the series, and leads him to the semi-finals of the shop tournament. ]]In preparation for the regionals Aichi upgrades his deck with units from the new booster pack, namely Knight Of Truth, Gordon, Gigantic Charger and more importantly Soul Savior Dragon. He uses this Units masterfully despite not having tested them, an early hint that he possesses some sort of supernatural power when Soul Savior Dragon answers his need during the regional finals against Gouki. Blaster Blade still remains a prominent Unit in his deck, even though he begins focusing on Soul Savior Dragon. After Q4's defeat at the nationals, Aichi goes to a training camp with Team Ceasar, where he trains against Yuri Usui. He is completely defeated, and Yuri advises him to restructure his deck. With a little help from the manager, and the spirits of the Royal Paladin cards, he creates a powerful deck based around Soul Savior Dragon, Hi-Dog Breeder Akane and Pongal. However, at the same time, the PSY Qualia begin advancing, and he starts trusting the voice of his cards over his own ability. Therefore, he uses that deck in the next shop and regional tournament, winning all of his matches, even against former AL4 member Kyou Yahagi, with apparent ease. Kai still refuses to acknowledge him, though, since he knows that the power of the PSY Qualia is not Aichi's own power. Seeking more power, Aichi visits the card shop PSY, where he is confronted by Suzugamori Ren. Ren gives him the Shadow Paladin deck, which completely corrupts him and causes him to abandon his Royal Paladins in favor of the new clan. His first match using this deck is against Kourin - he displays a great mastery in using it thanks to the power of the PSY Qualia, and delivers a crippling defeat to Kourin via Phantom Blaster Dragon's Damned Charging Lance. His new ace becomes Blaster Dark, and his deck is focused on sacrificing his own units for power, more specifically at the hands of Phantom Blaster Dragon. This is totally unlike him, a fact noticed by most characters. Aichi's original Royal Paladin deck was themed around the color blue, to contrast Kai's mostly red-based units. His Shadow Paladin deck ranges from dark blue, to dark grey, to black. The color of his PSY Qualia has also shifted to a much darker hue. After he acquired the Shadow Paladin deck, he abandoned his old deck at card shop PSY. Kourin retrieved it, and presumably gave it to Kai later. - It should be noted that Aichi's most famous card, Blaster Blade, was originally owned by a young Kai. Since its counterpart, Blaster Dark, was owned by Ren, an old acquaintance of Kai, it is possible that some more intricate connection exists between them. Royal Paladin Shadow Paladin Battles Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Protagonists Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Protagonists Category:Royal Paladin Deck Users Category:Shadow Paladin Deck Users